Where can you find the nation’s top builders of customized computer systems for business? Silicon Valley? Try about 2,000 miles to the northeast. The Twin Cities area is home to the first- and second-largest such companies in the country, according to the latest annual ranking by CRN (Computer Reseller News) magazine. Minneapolis-based Equus Computer Systems holds the top spot, having delivered 177,500 units in 2006. Northern Computer Technologies (Nor-Tech), based in Burnsville, follows with nearly 65,000 units sold the same year.
Equus and Nor-Tech differ from such PC-industry juggernauts as Dell and HP. Those firms maintain a large stock of machines and sell many of their products in standard configurations. System builders make computers to order and deliver them to resellers. Often, these so-called “white box” computers don’t carry the manufacturer’s name on the outside, which helps explain why these two highly successful technology providers aren’t household names outside of their own industry.
